Oregon’s Bo Nix was the sixth quarterback picked in the NFL Draft on Thursday night. The Denver Broncos, who picked him, were happy he was.

“This is the night where everyone says, ‘We got our guy,’” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “I told (general manager) George (Paton), ‘I think we’re in position right where we’re at. Shoot, I could fly out there today and be the first one when we’re on the clock to knock on his door and make sure he knew that we were the one. But then I thought that might be a little difficult if something happened. I’d be in Birmingham, Alabama, and all of sudden, we have to divert the plane somewhere, so we stayed put. But we’re glad it worked out the way it did.”

A former Pinson Valley High School standout who played his first three college seasons at Auburn, Nix went to Denver with the 12th selection in the first round.

Paton said the Broncos liked all the quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round – Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams at No. 1 by the Chicago Bears, LSU’s Jayden Daniels at No. 2 by the Washington Commanders, North Carolina’s Drake Maye at No. 3 by the New England Patriots, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 by the Atlanta Falcons and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 by the Minnesota Vikings.

But the general manager and coach settled on Nix as a good fit for the Broncos pretty quickly, they said.

“Once we knew this was our target,” Payton said, “every time Chase Daniel got on or Dan Orlovsky or anyone, ‘He’s perfect for …’ I’m like, ‘Shhh! Will you be quiet.’ …

“We did our best to talk about other players and directions. It’s difficult sometimes. You don’t want everyone to know this is the player, but I saw what you guys saw, and I would cringe and George would cringe.”

The Broncos released starting quarterback Russell Wilson in March because of his massive contract. That left former Auburn standout Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci as the Denver quarterbacks. Stidham started the final two games of the 2023 season as the Broncos prepared for their offseason decision on Wilson.

Last week, Denver traded with the New York Jets for quarterback Zach Wilson. The No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Wilson’s tenure in New York had gone badly enough that the Jets were willing to pay half of his 2024 salary to move him to Denver.

“These guys are all going to compete,” Payton said. “… Bill (Parcells) taught me a long time ago: Let’s just let them play. We got to maximize the reps that we have and let them develop. And that stuff will sort itself out.”

Nix said he knew he isn’t promised the starting job in Denver even though he is a first-round pick.

“I know everybody has to compete,” Nix said. “I know everyone has to go to work. We haven’t had any conversations thus far, just draft prep and, obviously, the recent draft-pick (call). Other than that, I just can’t wait to get around the locker room, can’t wait to get around the guys, meeting my new teammates, meeting new coaches and get to work.”

Nix said he also recognized his compatibility with Denver’s offense.

“I think when you look at their offense, when you look at the scheme, a lot of really fun concepts that I’ve run in the past, a lot of fun things that I’ve been able to do and have success in,” Nix said. “We were able to just talk over those and communicate those. I believe just talking football is one of the best things you can do in the process, and that’s what we did a lot of.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.